22 Mar Healthcare Advisory Services

The graphical representation of Health 2.0 contains a very important layer called value added Healthcare Advisory Services. In the new paradigm of information transparency, patients can easily get lost in the avalanche of alternatives and medical decision making. As I have stated previously, I believe there will be a significant opportunity for new healthcare information technology companies to offer superior value to their customers by providing an abstraction layer to consumers whereby they can effectively process the newly available information. This is a rich area of opportunity, and potential impact, to help empower consumers and begin to create a truly market driven healthcare “system” that will result in higher quality at lower costs.

The Health 2.0 paradigm includes the concept of “a full cycle of care” with a critical translation layer known as Value Added Healthcare advisory services. Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike 2.5 License.

Instead of pontificating on this point, I have chosen to include a letter I recently wrote to one of the healthcare organizations with whom I trust my family’s care. A few names have been altered to temporarily preserve anonymity. I believe the letter accurately describes what I believe the opportunity is for Healthcare Advisory Service companies:

Dear Shauniqua,

Thank you for your helping to set up my account.

I do have some questions about how the your Client Services work. One of the major reasons I chose to have your company to serve as my HSA custodian was that I believe that you offer superior value to me as a healthcare consumer. In addition to holding my money and providing attractive financial services, I am most interested in what I call “value added Healthcare Advisory Services” that are offered by your company. This would include access to the 24X7 Nurse Hotline, the RX comparison, and other services that allow me to be an informed consumer.

To that end, I would like your help with something. My son, who is 5 years old, requires a simple hernia repair for a small congenital defect. The diagnosis is common, the surgery considered routine, and the expected outcome is excellent. However, as a consumer (and a physician to boot!), I have no idea how to even make the decision of where to go, who to obtain the surgery from, what are the outcomes achieved by different physician/surgical center combinations, what to expect in terms recovery, and what the expected “episode of care” costs will be for this will be (includes everything from diagnosis through full recovery).

I believe that one of the most valuable things that your company could do for me, as a consumer, is to help me make a rational healthcare decision as I approach the various choices with how to proceed with my sons surgery. Where should I go? Which doctor should I go to? What should be expected costs? What are the outcomes? Who has the highest quality and performance metrics? and most importantly, where should I go to get the best healthcare value (outcome/price). This is a service that I would be very happy to pay you a significant monthly fee for because having this type of information would be extremely useful in my decision making process.

Therefore, I would be interested in your help with the following for the following CPT Code 49505 (Hernia Repair):

Which Pediatric Surgeons in Orange County perform this procedure?

What are the costs for each to perform this procedure?

What are the outcomes obtained by the different physicians who perform this procedure?

Patient satisfaction

Functional improvements

Recovery time

Complications

Errors

What facilities perform this procedure?

What are the costs of each facility performing this procedure?

What are the outcomes obtained by each facility performing this procedure?

Patient satisfaction

Functional improvements

Recovery time

Complications

Errors

What are the other costs associated with this “episode of care”

Office evaluation

Diagnostic/Imaging tests

Pre-operative preparation/tests

Operative charges

Hospital charges

Post operative office evaluation

Additional therapies

Based on the above, what combination of physician/facility combination would you recommend in order to obtain the best healthcare value (outcome/price) for this “episode of care”

This information is valuable to me – and is the same type of information available to me as a consumer when I go to purchase a washer/dryer, a new car, or a widescreen TV. Should my healthcare, which is infinitely more important than the features on my new TV, be any different? I am hopeful that your company will be able to provide this type of valuable Healthcare Advisory Services to me as a member subscriber. I would be more than willing to pay a premium to have this type of Healthcare Advisory Services available to me.

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